Blood, Falling, Hope
by Fauxhound
Summary: When Gumball suddenly wakes from a coma, he finds himself thrown into a war between those he loves. A battle he never expected is tearing his world apart and the fate of Elmore rests in his hands. It's time for a decision. Don't mess up. DISCONTINUED
1. I Overslept!

**Author's Note: My first shot at a Gumball fic, WOO! I hpe you enjoy! EDIT: This will be revamped later on, because I don't really like this champter. Don't worry, though, it'll be much better later on!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Amazing World of Gumball!**

**WARNING: This fic is dark. It will also contain pairings later on.**

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><p>No. This could not be happening. He was going crazy. Yeah, that was it, he was just going mad, bonkers, simply insane. That was the only explanation for what was happening around him. Yet no matter how hard he tried to force out an insane laugh, his breath caught in his throat and pain racked through his body until he could feel nothing but the hot tears welling up in his eyes, blurring the fading world around him.<p>

He wasn't insane. He was going to die.

"Gumball? Gumball, look at me!:

A hand slipped under his chin and pointed his head upward and the blue feline found himself looking at a familiar shape. His mind was fogging and his vision was fuzzy- he couldn't tell who it was, although the voice was on the tip of his tongue.

"Gumball, are you alright?"

He nodded before the question truly registered in his brain. Was he really alright? No, of course not! He couldn't feel any pain, but instead there was numbness. It was like there was nothing around him to feel other than the figure lifting his head, nothing to see but a blurry mess of shapes, nothing to hear but the explosions, nothing to taste but the blood pooling in his mouth and nothing to smell but death. Even though his senses were nearly useless, his mind continued to race.

"Gumball!"

Eyes opened and blurry figures filled his vision. He hadn't even realized he'd closed his eyes, and that could not have been a good thing. He was suddenly uncontrollably drowsy and his eyelids were extremely heavy.

"Stay awake, sweetie, please!"

The urgent sense of desperation in the familiar figure's voice kept Gumball fighting the overwhelming drowsiness threatening to pull him into a possibly eternal slumber. With a groan and a weak nod, he inched a hand over to the figure and grabbed a hold of a limb. An arm. He felt fur and his fingers closed around their appendage with little strength. That was when he had noticed the sticky substance. He pulled his hand back and turned his head to find an unfocused palm covered in a warm red facing hi,m.

Blood.

"Wha…" He was surprised by how vulnerable and pathetic his voice was. It lacked strength, it lacked the happy tone it normally possessed. It came out as a sort of gurgle, and he coughed up a good amount of blood. He was feeling so weak, he just wanted to sleep.

"It's alright, mommy's got you."

So that was who it was. Something in his fuzzing mind cleared, and violent coughs tore through his body before he could speak. "Mom? Wha…what's going on?"

He could feel Nicole drawing closer and pulling her son into her arms. "Don't worry about that right now, you'll know in a little while."

Gumball felt so pitifully weak that he was sure that he was going to fall out of his mother's grasp at any second. As she stood up, he grabbed onto her shirt with a bloodied hand and pulled himself closer to her chest in search of safety. As he rested in her comforting arms, heavy eyelids closed over unfocused eyes. He could feel Nicole running somewhere.

"Hold on tight," she told him.

"I'm tired, Mom."

"Stay awake, Gumball, I need you to stay awake." Her voice was full of fear

But no matter how hard he tried, the dangerous slumber already had him in its comforting claws.

"I can't," came Gumball's quiet voice, one hardly over a whisper. "I can't…"

Everything faded black, and Gumball's panicked mind seemed to relax as he fell into a deep sleep.

Falling. As soon as he slipped away, he fell. Nicole had let him down, the one that had just held him so tightly moments ago suddenly dropped him. She let him plummet into nothingness. Blackness consumed everything around him and he was trapped in a world of shadows. He tried to scream, but nothing but a silent breath escaped his lungs. Muted.

"Bye, Gumball…" The voice of his mother echoed through the darkness as if it were bouncing off of walls he could not see. He reached upward, trying to grab a hold of his mother again, but she only peered down at him, standing on a cliff that blending into the black, waving farewell. Blew fingers closed over empty air, black eyes welled up with scorching hot tears, and the silent scream continued to rush out of his lungs. The cat tried to grab onto her again. Onto something. Onto anything.

Nothing as there for him.

"Gumball!"

The twelve-year-old cat turned his head to the right, eyes stretched wide and fear covering his profile. Falling beside him was his dear baby sister.

"Gumball, save me!"

Her voice was a shrill bloodcurdling scream. If Gumball look afraid, it was nothing compared to Anais' face. She was absolutely horrified.

His breath catching in his throat and finally ending the breathy scream, Gumball tired to reach out and grab his sister's arm, but a gap grew between them. The further he reached the wider it got, the further apart they grew, the louder and more shrill Anais' screams became until they physically hurt, making her brother's ears throb and bleed and burn.

Eventually, Gumball just clasped his hands over his ears and squeezed is eyes shut, trying to block out the horror that was swirling around him, choking him with his own fear. It worked. Complete silence filled the world around him, and it tempted the boy to open his eyes again, but fear overpowered curiosity and he stayed locked up in his mind, shut behind his eyelids.

Suddenly, something soft touching his back. It's collision with him was gentle and smooth, relaxing, even, and it succeeded in getting the cat to open his eyes.

The sight of a white room sent blinding light rushing into his eyes and he found himself stirring awake in a bed. So all the time he'd been falling, he'd been dreaming? He groaned and blinked several times, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the light. It took longer than usual, he had a raging migraine and his mind was still as fuzzy as ever.

"Gumballs awake! He's awake, guys!"

Who was that? Gumball struggled to sit up and found his eyes scanning a hospital room. What in the world was happening here?

"Gumball's awake? Are you sure?"

Hope. That was the first emotion Gumball noticed from the voice.

"Positive, just come and see for yourself!"

Gumball followed the voice and found himself looking at… Tobias? It couldn't be, Tobias was only twelve years old! This guy had to be at least eighteen! Gumball blinked. "Tobias…?"

The rainbow lass looked over his shoulder at him briefly before turning back to whoever he was shouting at through the door. So that was proof, he had to be Tobias. But how? This Tobias was taller and incredibly muscular compared to his… old form. His body was covered in scars, the hues of the rainbow were dull, and his eyes were tough and cold; not only that, but his voice was deep and rumbling, full of strength.

"Tobia-" The blue cat broke off and his heart skipped a beat out of fear. That was _not _his voice. The sound that had escaped his lips was deep and weak, sounding tired and much older than before he'd woken up. Gumball swallowed dryly and kneaded his fingers into the sheets of the hospital bed, his breath coming in shallow panicked gasps.

That got Tobias' attention. He was by Gumball's side almost instantly, kneeled over at the bed and worried eyes scanning the feline's face. "Gumball? Man, what's wrong?"

Just as Tobias asked the question, the sound of rushed footsteps filled the room. Gumball turned his head to the doorway to see others entering. This time, it felt like his heart stopped rather than skipping a beat, because the sight that met his eyes was terrifying.

They were so different. But part of his mind already knew who they were.

"Gumball!" A set of pink furred arms wrapped around Gumball's waist and a head rested in the crook of his neck. He was sore, but he was too scared to do anything. And the thing was, he recognized the voice instantly. The young pink rabbit who had thrown itself on him released him from the painful hug and smiled at him. There was no way this rabbit was his sister! She was taller, covered in scars(she had an especially large one on her left cheek) much like Tobias', and she had lost her baby fat. In fact, she was looking abnormally thin.

She must have noticed the confused look on her brother's face, because the smile faded and fear faintly showed in her eyes. "Remember me, Gumball? Your sister Anais?"

Gumball shook his head slowly, still in shock. "What? No, you're not my sister, Anais is only four years old."

Anais, with a sadness in her eyes, said to him, "Gumball, you've been asleep for six years."


	2. How We Got Here

**Author's Note: I hope you guys like this chapter! I think I like it more than the first. **

**WARNING: This fic contains dark themes, mainly including violence. If you're a weenie or don't want to see character death, turn back now. There is no death yet, but there will be!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Amazing World of Gumball!**

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><p>Shock. The words that Anais had spoken sent her brother into a state of silent horror. How could that be? How had he fallen into a coma? He took a deep and shaky breath, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. If he had truly gone into a coma, what had become of the people around him? Why were they so beat up? Where was Darwin? And Richard?<p>

"W-What?" he stammered. "But how?"

Anais' eyes flicked over to Nicole, then back at her brother. She took a seat beside him on the soft hospital bed, fingers playing with the sheets. "If anyone can tell you what happened and do it right, it'd be Mom." She looked at Nicole once more, and this time Gumball looked, too.

The woman in the doorway, that blue feline. It wasn't hard to tell who it was, but she stilled looked so… different. She looked older. Not too much older, of course, she would never allow herself to appear as an old lady. But she did look tired, that was for sure. She had bags under her eyes and a small smile on her face. Her face… there was a long, intimidating scar on her right eye that reached her cheek. The eye was pale and cloudy, and for some reason it sent a chill running down the feline's spine.

"Honey," Nicole said with a smile as she walked over to him. She wasn't as excited to see him awake as he wished.

"Mom?" He asked the question as if he was unsure if the blue cat standing before him was actually his mother.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"What happened?" Gumball stared at her with frightened eyes, but they were also full of curiosity. What could have pitched him into such a state for six whole years?

Nicole's eyes were sympathetic and laced with pain. She almost seemed to have flinched when the question left his mouth. "You see, Gumball… alright. I'll tell you everything I know. I learned most of it from Miss Simian, years ago. Don't interrupt the story, alright? When it began….

It was a normal day at school. Gumball was in class, doing class work while Miss Simian shouted at the class in that shrill, torturous voice of her. Each syllable pierced his eardrums, making him grit his teeth and push down on his pencil with unneeded force.

"Do you want extra homework?" she threatened, standing behind her desk, hands pressed on the surface of the wood and eyes scanning the classroom wildly for an answer.

"No!" That was Tobias.

"Then get to work!"

Gumball groan with annoyance and scribbled messily on his paper. He hated homework, and that crazy old chimp already gave them way too much. The last thing he needed was more.

The class fell silent, and, for once, one could hear a pen drop.

"Wait… d'you hear that?"

The whisper of Gumball's goldfish brother, Darwin, shattered the silence like thin eyes.

"Gumball! Stop talking!" Miss Simian shrieked, slamming her hands down on her desk and sending a paper or two fluttering to the floor.

"It wasn't m-"

"Detention!"

Gumball let out a very loud, angry sigh.

"No, I hear it, too," Tina growled.

"Yeah, me too," agreed Carrie.

"You're all hearing things," Miss Simian snapped. "Now back to work or you'll all be joining Gumball in detention!"

The children fell silent once again, knowing that spoken words would result in unwanted punishment. But as they continued on with their class work, a high pitched whistle and a faint rumbling reached the ears of the teacher.

"What is that?" Miss Simian demanded, looking around the classroom. "Whoever is doing that had better stop _this instant_!"

The class looked around, but no source of the whistling and rumbling, but nothing could be found. Gumball found himself staring out of the window. It sounded like it was coming form outside. As time passed, the sound grew louder and louder until it filled the entire room with a noise even more painful that Miss Simian's voice, stabbing Gumball's eardrums and making him hiss with pain.

That was when the P.A. clicked on. "Students and staff, please evacuate the building as quickly and _calmly_ as possible!" The voice was hardly audible over the whistling, but the students still heard it.

That set off an uproar. Every student in the classroom automatically began screaming and running out of the door at the same time.

"What's going on?" Miss Simian shouted, doing her best to get her voice over the whistling, which had drowned out both the rumbling and the teacher.

Gumball was the last to escape. Penny and Darwin were dragged out with the frightened crowd and therefore could not help him. The blue cat raced down the halls of the school, following more groups of students and staff alike. By the time he reached the front doors, it was too late. He stepped outside, stopping dead in his tracks. He opened his mouth to scream, but the explosion went off much too quickly and cut his inhaling off. Green mist flooded out of the bomber plane and flooded the ground like eerie waters, a stench like burning rubber and gasoline filling Gumball's nose. Gumball was already passing out, his ears ringing and body racked with pain. Not only had the explosion thrown him backwards into a crumbling school, but he had hit a wall with a tremendous amount of force.

The world began to fade and Gumball could hear a tiny voice above the ringing of his ears calling to him, sounding miles away.

"…And that was where I found you," Nicole finished. "Trapped in a damaged building with nobody else to be found."

Gumball could feel faint memories being ignited in his mind as he recalled some of the details in his mother's story. "But how come?" he asked. "Why did that even happen?"

"Because," Nicole said, looking away from her son. "Some… Some people are just bad."

Gumball was not satisfied by her answer. He knew that she wasn't telling him details on purpose. "Where are the others?"

It was Anais' turn to speak. "Back at base. Nobody but us knows you're here. We should take you back and _then_ fill you in on what's going on."

"Why not here and now?" insisted her brother.

"What Anais says goes," Tobias snapped, grabbing the blue cat by his scrawny arms and hefting him to his feet on solid ground, giving him a bit of support to balance himself. "Let's move."

"Why does she call the shots?" Gumball snapped, glaring at the rainbow lass.

Tobias shot back an equally pointed look. "Because she's the-"

A shake from the head from Nicole shut him up instantly. With a sigh and a rub of the back of his head, he said in a more relaxed tone, "Just get a move on it, sleeping beauty."

Gumball sent him one last glare and went on his way, following behind his mother as they exited the hospital room. He paused for a moment when she stopped at a corner down the empty white hall and watched with shock as she picked up a few guns from a table.

_Guns_.

"What are those for…?" he asked cautiously.

"Here," she said, ignoring his question with a worried smile. "Take this." She pushed a heavy weapon into his tired, weak arms and he collapsed to the floor underneath it. Of course, she helped him up, and then turned to give Tobias and Anais weapons of their own.

"You'll need it," Tobias said as a reply when Gumball sent him a questioning glance.

Gumball did not like what was going on. Sure, it was exciting, but it was way too creepy. With a nervous grunt, he adjusted the gun in his hands and followed Tobias, his mother, and his sister through the hospital. It was completely and utterly empty.

He paused at the doors behind the little group, glancing around the empty lobby and then at the deadly firearm in his hands. Then, only seconds later, the group turned to him.

"Ready?" Anais asked.

"Yeah," replied Gumball. He and the group turned back to the door and stepped outside.

The sight that met his eyes was absolutely horrifying.


	3. We're at WHAT?

**A/N: Sorry this took so long, I just have a lot to do lately.**

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><p>Everything around was destroyed. Elmore was in ruins. Buildings were crumbling and the streets were ruined. Large pieces of cement and upturned trees littered the ground. Most of the things around looked burned and charred black. Even the outside of the hospital, which looked decent on the inside, was scorched black and many windows were shattered.<p>

"What in the–"

"This part of Elmore was bombed, as well," Anais said. Turning to Gumball.

It was the first time Gumball noticed what she was wearing. She was dressed in military clothes. And now that he looked about the group he was with, they were all dressed like that. His head was finally beginning to clear up, and details began to collect in his brain. How did he miss their clothing? As odd as it was, it was just a tiny thought in the back of his head. Elmore was destroyed! He couldn't be worrying about people's fashion styles.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Gumball by the arm. He turned to look at the person who touched him to see it was Nicole.

"Come on, Gumball," she said. "Follow in our lead."

Gumball's heart was pounding, his throat dry and fear shot throughout his body. This was more than a simple bombing. It had to be.

But he followed, anyway. Nicole, Tobias, and Anais lead the now-eighteen boy throughout the rubble of the fallen town. They moved with light footsteps, weaving between piles of stone and destroyed buildings. Their weapons held at attention, each of the three fingering the trigger, they made their way over to a manhole in the middle of a road.

Nicole and Tobias stood on opposite sides of the manhole, eyes scanning the area sharply.

Gumball couldn't help but feel excited as he waited, this was just like a video game! His fear melted away and was replaced with his eagerness.

Anais pried the manhole open with a crowbar-like blade at the end of her gun. She peered down into the opening and began to whistle. It began at a low pitch, but spiked upward into a high tone. Then, it spiraled into a birdsong, one of which Gumball could not recall. Suddenly, lights flickered on from below.

Anais pulled her way out of the manhole and faced the other 3. "It's good." Without waiting for a reply, she hopped down.

"What was that?" Gumball asked, looking to Nicole with wide eyes.

"Shut up and move it," Tobias hissed, and with a boot to tail, Gumball was falling down the manhole.

"AAAHHHH!"

"Shut up!" Tobias' voice was a low hiss from above on the surface, the lass peering down the hole with bared teeth. "Damn, what's wrong with you?"

Gumball shut his mouth and with a muffled squeak, he landed face first onto a big, soft inflated pad. Rising to his shaky legs, he rubbed his face. "Ow…"

Anais was waiting by the landing mat, and she took Gumball by the arm.

"Where are we?" The cat asked, allowing his sister to pull him away and into a hallway.

"Headquarters," Anais said. "We've been waiting for you to wake up so that we could move you somewhere safer."

"Safer?" Gumball echoed. He looked at her blankly before his confused expression was replaced with a scowl. "I need some explaining."

The rabbit was silent for a long moment, walking into a room and shutting and locking the door. "Gumball, we're at war."

"_What_?"

"The war started when the school was bombed. Nobody ever got an answer as to why it all happened in the first place. All we knew was that some people were captured and ended up betraying us and joining their side. All of them."

Gumball stared at her silently.

"We defeated the original people who declared war on us, but there are still the others. We call this the Second War."

Gumball broke out into a fit of laughter. "That's a good one, Anais," he said.

Anais stared at him, not even a smile on her face or a twitch of her eyebrows. Only a scarred frown, one that seemed etched into her very being. "I'm serious."

Gumball's laughter gradually faded until he was staring at her with afraid eyes.

"I am the leader of this side. The good side who want peace in Elmore. Mom used to be, but she was injured in battle. That's hwy she's blind in one eye and she can't fight for long anymore," Anais continued. "And Gumball, we need your help. To fight with us."

"What?" Gumball said. "You want me to shoot people?"

Anais nodded sadly. "You'll start training tomorrow."

Gumball's heart nearly stopped. "I don't get any time to adjust to all of this?"

"We don't have time to waste," Anais replied sharply. "Sorry."

Gumball stood in the bedroom Anais had lead him to and watch her leave.

This was just too much.


End file.
